US suspends recovery of troop remains in NKorea

MATTHEW PENNINGTONAssociated Press Published: March 21, 2012 2:06 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States says it's suspending efforts to recover remains of thousands of fallen service members in North Korea.

The United States was in the process of resuming operations, suspended in 2005, to trace remains missing from the 1950-53 Korean War. That had been been seen as a sign of easing tensions between adversaries.

But last week North Korea announced plans to launch a rocket to fire a satellite into space, which the U.S. says would violate a U.N. ban.

Pentagon press secretary George Little says North Korea hasn't acted appropriately in recent days and weeks and "it's important for them to return to the standards of behavior that the international community has called for." He says that at some point, the U.S. hopes to restart the recovery effort.